Release of pollutants reported to the National Response Center during the month of November, 2013 along the Mississippi River industrial corridor in Louisiana.
Release of pollutants reported to the National Response Center during the month of November, 2013 along the Mississippi River industrial corridor in Louisiana.
During the month of November 2013, there were 21 reports to the National Response Center from large industrial facilities in the Mississippi River industrial corridor from just above Baton Rouge to just below New Orleans. The National Response Center (NRC) is the federal government’s national communications center, which is staffed 24 hours a day by U.S. Coast Guard officers and marine science technicians. The NRC is the sole federal point of contact for reporting all hazardous substances and oil spills.
These are the reported incidents (primarily self reported) of accidental spills and releases of pollutants from large industrial facilities in the Mississippi River industrial corridor. This does not include the multitude of NRC reports of oil and fuel spills from boats, ships and barges, unknown oil sheens found floating on the water, and discharges of oil, gas and produced waters from oil and gas activity and infrastructure. This also does not include the more than one hundred thousand pounds of pollutants that industry is legally allowed to release into the environment every year in Louisiana.
There are OVER 100 additional NRC reports from November alone of crude oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, hydraulic oil, unknown oil slicks, produced waters, miscellaneous lubricating oils and various other pollutants discharged into the environment in South-East Louisiana. To view all of the NRC reports for the past month click on one of the “Full Report” links below to be taken to SkyTruth’s NRC explorer. Then click on “View Nearby Alerts.” You will be able to see all of the mappable NRC reports plotted on a Google Map.
| Incident Date | Suspected Responsible Party | Substance Released | Medium Affected | Incident Description | Link To Report at SkyTruth |
| November 1, 2013 | MOTIVA CONVENT REFINERY – Convent | Hydrogen Sulfide | Air | CALLER STATED DUE TO AN EQUIPMENT LEAK THERE WAS A RELEASE OF MATERIALS THAT MAY EXCEED THE REPORTABLE QUANTITY. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 2, 2013 | Motiva Enterprises – Norco | Volatile Organic Compounds, Ethane, Ethylene | Air | CALLER STATED THAT THERE WAS A RELEASE OF THE FOLLOWING MATERIALS, ETHANE, ETHYLENE, AND VOC’S, THE CAUSE WAS DUE TO EQUIPMENT FAILURE. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 3, 2013 | Motiva Enterprises – Norco | Volatile Organic Compounds, Ethane, and Ethylene | Air | CALLER IS REPORTING AN ELEVATED FLARING EVENT, DUE TO AN EQUIPMENT FAILURE. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 4, 2013 | Noranda Alumina – Gramercy | Alumina Hydrate (Aluminum Hydroxide) | Air | CALLER REPORTED A RELEASE FROM A STACK DUE TO UNKNOWN REASONS. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 4, 2013 | Air Products – Convent | Waste Water | Land | CALLER STATED THAT THE PIPELINE CALLED THEM AND TOLD THEM THERE WAS A LEAK ON THE WASTE WATER DISCHARGE LINE DUE UNKNOWN CAUSES. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 4, 2013 | Syngenta – St. Gabriel | Chlorine | Air | CALLER IS REPORTING A RELEASE OF APPROXIMATELY 10 POUNDS OF CHLORINE INTO THE ATMOSPHERE FROM PROCESS EQUIPMENT, THE WRONG TYPE OF FLANGE WAS BEING USED AND IT ERODED. | Full Report |
| November 4, 2013 | Air Products – Reserve | Ethylene and Propylene | Other | CALLER IS REPORTING A SPILL OF ETHYLENE AND PROPYLENE INTO THE REACTOR. VOLUMES RELEASED: ETHYLENE 350 POUNDS, PROPYLENE 350 POUNDS | Full Report |
| November 6, 2013 | Marathon Petroleum – Garyville | Hydrogen Sulfide | Air | CALLER REPORTED THAT A UNIT SHUT DOWN CAUSING A RELEASE OF AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF HYDROGEN SULFIDE. | Full Report |
| November 7, 2013 | Shell Pipeline – Gramercy | Ethane, and Methane | Air | CALLER IS REPORTING A RELEASE OF AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF A DRY GAS MIXTURE OF METHANE AND ETHANE, ITS RELEASING INTO THE ATMOSPHERE IN A SWAMP. CAUSE IS UNKNOWN AND UNDER INVESTIGATION. | Full Report |
| November 7, 2013 | Chalmette Refining – Chalmette | Hydrogen Sulfide | Air | CALLER IS REPORTING A RELEASE OF APPROXIMATELY 100 POUNDS OF HYDROGEN SULFIDE INTO THE ATMOSPHERE DUE TO A 3/4″ BLEEDER LEAKING ON THE FRACTIONATOR UNIT.” | Full Report |
| November 12, 2013 | Dow Chemical Company – Plaquemines | Ethylene, and Methane | Air | CALLER IS REPORTING A RELEASE OF ETHYLENE AND METHANE FROM A LEAKING PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE (PRV). VOLUMES RELEASED: ETHYLENE 6627 POUNDS, METHANE 9278 POUNDS | Full Report |
| November 13, 2013 | Motiva Enterprises – Norco | Volatile Organic Compounds, Ethane, and Ethylene | Air | CALLER IS REPORTING THAT THE AC CONVERTER WENT OFF STACK CAUSING A RELEASE OF ETHANE, VOC AND ETHYLENE FROM THE GO1 UNIT FLARE. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 14, 2013 | Marathon Petroleum – Garyville | Sulfur Dioxide | Air | SULFUR DIOXIDE RELEASED FROM HEATER UNIT 15 DUE TO HIGH H2S IN THE FUEL GAS SYSTEM. THE AMOUNT RELEASED IS UNKNOWN, HOWEVER THE 160 PPM REPORTABLE QUANTITY HAS BEEN MET (LAST READING WAS AT 174 PPM). | Full Report |
| November 15, 2013 | Shell Pipeline – Gramercy | Dry Gas containing: Propane, Ethane, and Methane | Air | CALLER STATED DUE TO UNKNOWN CAUSES THERE IS A RELEASE OF DRY GAS CONTAINING (PROPANE, METHANE, ETHANE) FROM A 12 INCH STEEL INTRASTATE PIPELINE. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 17, 2013 | Formosa Plastics – Baton Rouge | Hydrochloric Acid | Air | CALLER REPORTED A HYDROCHLORIC ACID LEAK ON AN EXCHANGER. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 17, 2013 | Koch Nitrogen Company – Taft | Anhydrous Ammonia | Air | CCALLER IS REPORTING A RELEASE OF ANHYDROUS AMMONIA VAPOR FROM A CRACK IN A VALVE. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 20, 2013 | ExxonMobil Chemical Company – Baton Rouge | Benzene, Butadiene, Ethylene, Isoprene, Nitrogen Oxide, Propylene, Sulfur Dioxide, Other VOC’S (Methane, Ethane & Hydrogen) | Air | DUE TO A TRIP OF THE NC01 COMPRESSOR, SEVERAL MATERIALS ARE RELEASING TO THE FLARE. VOLUMES RELEASED: BUTADIENE 346 POUNDS, BENZENE 307 POUNDS, ETHYLENE 1340 POUNDS, ISOPRENE 150 POUNDS, NITRIC OXIDE 1477 POUNDS, PROPYLENE 534 POUNDS, SULFUR DIOXIDE 10874 POUNDS | Full Report & Report Update |
| November 23, 2013 | Axiall – Plaquemine | Caustic Soda Solution | Unknown | CALLER IS REPORTING A RELEASE OF SODIUM HYDROXIDE FROM A TANK. THE CAUSE WAS DUE TO THE LOSS OF POWER. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 27, 2013 | ExxonMobil Refinery – Baton Rouge | Hydrogen Sulfide and Sulfur Dioxide | Air | CALLER STATED THAT THEY HAD A SULFUR PLANT UNIT THAT HAD AN UPSET WHICH CAUSED A SPIKE IN ACID GAS FEED AND THEY HAD TO DIVERT THE TAIL GAS CLEANUP UNIT TO THE INCINERATOR. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 28, 2013 | Shell Chemical Motiva – Norco | Sulfur Dioxide | Air | CALLER IS REPORTING A RELEASE OF SULFUR DIOXIDE FROM AN ELEVATED FLARE DUE TO A FAULTY PRESSURE TRANSMITTER. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
| November 28, 2013 | ExxonMobil Chemical Company – Baton Rouge | Butadiene and Benzene | Air | CALLER STATED DUE TO A VAPOR RECOVERY SYSTEM MALFUNCTION THERE WAS A RELEASE OF MATERIALS TO THE AIR AT THE FACILITY. UNKNOWN VOLUME RELEASED | Full Report |
Very special thanks to our Gulf Monitoring Consortium partners, SkyTruth, for their great work with NRC information. Check out SkyTruth.
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